Thank you for your feedback, reviewers!
When I looked through this chapter, I added something in there I left out. Thanks to the comments, I remembered to put it in.

Well, anyways, hope you enjoy!

Chapter 12
A Day At Elm's Lab

The hours passed, and dawn eventually arrived. The slow sun rose above the pristine treetops, embracing those below it with its warmth. Bird Pokémon chirped, enjoying the cool temperature and the ever peaceful mood of the suburban morning.

In one of the few small guestrooms in Professor Elm's laboratory, the sunlight once again crawled through the window. Marina, nestled in the blankets of her bed, didn't so much as flinch when the light stroked her cheek. The small green Poké Ball was still held in her hand, as though its soothing presence was the lullaby that had eased her asleep.

The door to the room opened with a small creak.

"Marina?"

Kenta, holding the door knob, quietly walked in when he realized there was an undisturbed silence. As he had just woken, his hair was mostly untamed without his hat. His hand lingered carefully on the door, somewhat expecting the girl to suddenly wake up, stumble out of bed, and greet him.

However, the girl slept soundly.

"Are you up?" he called after a moment. She did not respond.

Usually she's the first one to wake, he thought. What do I do now?

After what had happened the day before, he hoped to talk to her to see where they stood in terms of their friendship. The two rarely ever fought, so their heated quarrel weighed heavily on his mind. Professor Elm had told him not to worry, but he could not help feeling concerned.

Giving it a moment's thought, he decided to simply wake her up himself. As Kenta walked inside her room, he stopped as he noticed a little Pokémon napping on the chair on the opposite side of the room. It had woken up rather quickly, however, and was staring at him. Beside its highly unusual burgundy-gold coat, it looked not unlike his starter Pokémon.

"A Cyndaquil…?" he wondered curiously. He waved at it and approached, seeing that it was not aggressive in the least as it yawned and stretched its little limbs. He grinned slightly. "You must be the Pokémon that Chris gave to Marina."

"Yes."

Not actually expecting a reply, Kenta froze mid-walk. The voice he had heard was very similar to his own Cydaquil, but there was an extra layer of sound that he could only describe as a computerized voice synthesizer.

The fire-type tilted its head. "Hi, I'm King," he said.

They stared at one another for a few moments before the realization finally hit the boy.

"What the—?!" Kenta jumped back in shock, nearly tripping over himself. He looked over at Marina, who was still snoozing away. Because she was always the first to wake, he had never really realized how deep a sleeper that she could be.

He returned his attention to the matter at hand. "Y-You can talk? How can you do that? Pokémon don't talk," he quickly asked the Cyndaquil.

King softly cleared his throat, a cute attempt at sounding official, and shifted his head upward. Both of his little paws pointed toward a white collar that was around his neck. "This thing can make us understand each other," he said, the collar translating as he spoke. "I found some at Mr. Pokémon's house."

He lowered his head to look back at the baffled Trainer. "Who are you, anyway?"

"I… My name is Kenta. I've known Marina for a long time," Kenta introduced himself, still in disbelief. "King, right?"

"Yup," the Cyndaquil replied and fixed his posture with pride. "My owner chose a good name for me. I'm practically—royalTV… TV? Wailordhatthepuck? 251—."

King shook his head as the collar continued to spout gibberish even though he was not talking. Kenta gave him a stare matching the Pokémon's confusion.

"What was that?" the boy asked when the voice finally stopped.

"Uh… Cindy Cyndaquil cinders—okay, it works again," King tested before letting out a grunt that went without translation from the buggy collar. "I don't know; it does that a lot. The others do it too, so—donalocomotivecat… yeah."

"How many did you take?" he asked, sounding a little more interested than reprimanding. The slightly-robotic voice was jarring to Kenta at first, but it was much smoother than he had first thought.

"That guy won't notice. He had a lot of junk; heck, I found the collars under a chair. And these things are as buggy as Caterpie. You know? 'Cause it's a bug?"

"Yeah, I get it."

"Oh, lemme get you one. Hold on," King said and jumping down the chair, diving into Marina's backpack on the floor.

Kenta watched in silent amazement before shaking his head, wondering if he was still asleep and having a really unusual dream. Checking the digital clock on the desk, the time read seven-fifty.

And if I remember right, don't the clocks in the lab ring at eight? He wondered, I remember having to help Elm turn off all the clocks a few times before with Jackson and Marina... Keeping note of this, Kenta settled into the vacant chair. Memories of what happened in just the past few days came to mind. He sighed, fixing his raven-colored bangs to their usual style.

"And this is only the first week..."

The Cyndaquil jumped out of the bag carrying two collars identical to the first, which were interlaced with hi-tech wiring that glowed when activated. He dropped them and nudged one toward him.

"Thanks, I guess," the boy took it, observing it with great fascination before placing it on the desk along with Marina's belt of Poké Balls. He looked back at King. "How long have you been with Marina?"

"Not long..." King made another quiet purr that was unintelligible to the collar, which fizzled until he continued speaking. "Yesterday morning. But she was sure excited to see me. She told me she liked Cyndaquil and wanted one as a starter, and that she'll take good care of me."

"So she wanted a Cyndaquil all along?"

"Yeah-huh! And not just any ordinary one; because my father is her brother's starter Pokémon. Heh, I have—fennellittlecupstadium2—frack. As I was saying, I have some big shoes to—fiddlediddlepichufortytwotell… Gah! Hold on, maybe if I hit it…"

As King struggled and failed to reach the defective collar with his little paws, Kenta leaned back in his chair with a grin. His sleepy eyes darted to Marina. He had figured that she would have wanted a Cyndaquil because of her brother, but he didn't realize just how adamant she was about it.

Still, that isn't fair for that Totodile to be left with some punk, he thought.

The troubled expression Marina had worn the night before was nonexistent now, cleaned away by a serene face complimented by a tranquil frown. One of her pigtails tickled her cheek as she slept, but she took no notice of it. Occasionally she fidgeted and her eyelashes would flutter; she was dreaming. Despite his thoughts, he could not help but smile at her a little.

"I'm happy to have an energetic Trainer," King was saying, having somehow fixed the collar for the time being. "A calm one won't do for me. I haven't battled enough since I was hatched, so I'm ready to take on world! …Hello? Anyone there?"

Kenta looked down to see the little Pokémon looking back up at him. "What?"

"You're making me wonder, you know?"

"About what?"

"Do you like Marina?" King answered with his own inquiry.

"Well, she's my friend, so obviously…"

"No, no, no, that's not what I meant. This tricky collar must have a crazy word filter or something... What I mean is, do you—luvdiscrom friend way indiforktvtropes?"

"The collar bugged out again."

"Are you sure or are you just avoiding the question?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Kenta said with a short laugh.

"Stupid collar." King seemed to growl in feigned annoyance. "Then what are you thinking about?"

"That Totodile you battled the other day...it was stolen from Marina. That was her first Pokémon," Kenta told him quite gravely.

"Whoa, are you serious?" King twitched in shock. "I never knew that! That's why she acted so weird when we first battled it. She called it Wani-Wani or something. Heh, my name's way better.

"It was tough opponent, but I came out on top. That was my first victory with Marina." King's fire sprouted temporarily in response, glowing with confidence. His unusual fur seemed to sparkle in the morning rays, catching the boy's eye.

"King, you're a completely different color than any other Cyndaquil I've seen... What happened to your fur?"

"This?" King looked at himself for a moment and then shook his head. "It's been that way since I was born, actually. I don't know why."

"Oh...It's cool."

"Thanks. I like it a lot."

"You talk a lot, too."

"I like talking, and how many Pokémon can say that they've had a comprehensible conversation with a human—beeffourivsfourtytwocyphrmeowthnyanya?"

Silence overcame the two.

"Well, mostly comprehensible," King admitted.

Marina walked down the middle of an abandoned street, her soft footsteps echoing. It was dark, and only the full moon offered some light. The cobblestone street seemed dull and gray, and the buildings were old in age yet grand in detail. She looked around, unable to recognize the place, and she shivered as she felt a cold wind.

"Where am I?" she asked, her voice unanswered. Nevertheless, she continued onwards.

All was silent except for a rushing sound of water ahead of her, and she reached a clearing; a simple central square. At its center was a large stone fountain. A trail of water beautifully spewed from the top, as though reaching for the moon.

"Where is everyone?" she wondered aloud. Not a single soul seemed to be out, and none of the beautiful homes had lights pouring from their windows. The background of the city fell into the cloak of night as the moon was blocked by clouds.

"Marina," a combination of two voices, one powerfully soothing and the other cold with just a hint of gentleness, spoke out.

"Huh?" Marina's eyes blinked and searched her surroundings again. Two figures, one towering above the other, were now standing beside her. Marina jumped back and retreated at their sudden appearance.

The taller was a cinnamon and brown-colored lion with a crimson-gold mask, and the shorter was a boy with long, red hair. The boy's eyes were closed along with the potent lion that stood tall over him. Though they were nearly concealed in the weak but prowling darkness, Marina could recognize them, especially the young boy.

"Is that…an Entei? Wait a minute … Silver?" Marina called in confusion, though her voice was suppressed to a whisper.

The boy seemed to smirk in response. In a simultaneous action with the lion, they opened their eyes and their matching silver irises seemed to give off an eerie glow.

Clueless and a little unnerved, Marina took another step away when she looked from the boy to the lion.

A gentle laugh broke the silence, and Marina turned to its origin. Also as though appearing from nowhere, an elegant woman stared at her whilst standing in the fountain's pool. Though wisdom swirled in her expression, she wore a youthful smile. Long blond hair cascaded over her shoulders, and she gave off a strange reassuring aura. An immense feeling of safety washed over the girl.

"Who are you?" Marina asked her.

With another soft laugh, the woman spoke as clear as crystal. "It's time to wake up, Marina."

As though on command, the moon vanished and everything around Marina was swallowed up in darkness. She stood alone, and not even the sound of water existed. Nothing surrounded her any longer.

Interrupting the silence between King and Kenta, Marina stirred and muttered in her sleep. The two turned to her with a start, watching as the girl sat up and stretched her arms.

"Yay, you're awake!" King yipped loudly, almost drowning out the voice of his collar.

"Good morning," Kenta greeted, feeling a little on edge as he prepared for any potential negativity from her.

Surprisingly to him, she looked at them with a drowsy gaze, keeping her head tilted slightly. She then covered her mouth as she yawned.

"Hi Kenta, what are you doing in here?" Marina questioned. King made his way to Marina's bedside, while Kenta settled to stay in his chair.

"Good mornin' Marina!" King exclaimed. With a small smile, his Trainer leaned over to pat him but stopped suddenly.

"Wait...you can talk...?"

"Of course I can, don't you remember? It's morning already; it's time to get up!" The girl nodded groggily at first, but she giggled as the spunky Cyndaquil leapt up and bounced on the bed.

"Okay, okay… I'm up." Marina looked at her friend, who almost flinched at her gaze.

"What?" he asked awkwardly and berating himself for the lame response.

"...Why are you in my room?"

"Well, I-I thought you'd be awake already. I was going to wake you up, but," he turned to King, who was playfully rolling around on the sheets as his collar began to malfunction again, "your Cyndaquil started talking to me, which really surprised me."

Marina smiled, half-asleep still. Then she asked, "What time is it?"

"It's almost eight, I think," he answered, double-checking the clock behind him.

"Really? Geez, I was so tired last night. I even forgot to change into my PJs."

"Yeah. I even got up earlier than you... Remember how you used to come over to my house on the weekends at the crack of dawn?"

"Mm-hm," she replied with a little laugh as she stretched again, realizing belatedly that she was holding her little Poké Ball. "It was silly to do that to you—and Jackson too—but I was bored. Chris and May always slept really late."

"We'd try to get up because we wanted to play with you, but then we couldn't and kept dozing off," laughed Kenta.

"Yup," she smiled at him. Feeling a bit uncomfortable with the silence, Kenta looked away and stared at the alarm clock.

"So, what are we going to do until everyone else wakes up?" he asked.

"Hm...I could take a shower."

"Marina, you said that you did that last night, remember?" King interjected.

"Oh...oh, right!" Marina laughed again and slipped out of her bed, "I'm still half-asleep, I guess."

"I can see that," Kenta said with a grin.

Marina yawned again, a fake one in a playful reply to him. She walked over to the desk, clipping the belt around her waist and going through her backpack. "King, were you in here?"

"Yeah, I wanted to give your friend a collar," her Pokémon responded as he burrowed underneath Marina's pillow, muffling both his and his synthesized voices.

"Is that okay?" Kenta asked. "He said that he just took them from Mr. Pokémon's house."

"Yeah, it's fine. Mr. Pokémon saw King trying to sneak them in my backpack while I was eating lunch. He said they didn't really work and I could have them anyway," Marina responded with a shrug.

A stifled, "told you," came from under the pillow.

"That's good, as long as he didn't steal them. But they seem to work pretty well to me," he said with a grin. He took out his PokéGear and turned it on.

"Really? I could barely get it to work at all last night. It just sounded like someone pulled words out of a hat."

"Haha, yeah, it does."

Marina stood and, watching Kenta, reached for her own phone. She stared at it for some time before glancing back at him. In an attempt to mimic him, she fiddled with it haphazardly and leaned in closer to get a better look at what he was doing.

Realizing that he was being watched, Kenta looked up at her with a start. "Wh-What?"

"You know how to work a PokéGear, don't you?" she asked perkily.

"Of course." Kenta glanced at the girl's pink and white PokéGear as she hung it around her neck. "You just got yours, right? It looks brand new."

"Yup, my mom gave it to me when we chose our starter Pokémon, but I don't really know how to use it—."

Their conversation was interrupted by the alarm clock, making them both jump.

"Oh, looks like it's eight now," Marina said as she read the displayed time.

"I guess everyone should be waking up." Kenta stood on his feet, silencing the alarm as the girl pulled King from under the pillow. Letting Marina go first, she and Kenta exited the room.

Less than an hour later—and after feeding the rookie Trainers' Pokémon—Marina, Kenta, Jackson, and Professor Elm sat down at the table where they had been the previous night to question Marina. However, this time the mood around them was amiable yet awkward as they ate breakfast together. From time to time, everyone would eye Marina as they ate their pancakes.

What a weird dream...What did it mean? The girl wondered, mostly oblivious to their staring.

"I'm sorry for the plain breakfast," Elm apologized, breaking the rather comfortable silence, "I'm hardly ever here in the morning."

"That's fine. It's all good," Jackson responded gleefully. The others nodded in agreement.

Just then, tapping sounds echoed across the room. The group turned to the window on the other side, where a black bird Pokémon sat on the windowsill expectantly. Elm froze up at first, but the bird was a different, more passive Murkrow than the one that had attacked the lab. This one was small and sleek with a pretty red ribbon tied onto is tail. A letter was clutched in its talons.

Marina was the first to stand. "I'll get it. Can I?"

"Sure," Elm said in response.

Marina briskly walked toward the window pane and opened it, letting the Pokémon fly in. It fluttered above her, the bow fluttering about. The others stood and came over, and the Murkrow landed on Marina's shoulder, much to her surprise. Before perching, it dropped the folded-up piece of paper and two Poké Balls in her hands. She paused for a moment, opened the letter and smiled.

"Wow, it's from Chris!" she exclaimed.

"Seriously? Chris..." Jackson murmured, grinning at Marina's joyful reaction. He turned to Professor Elm. "How is he doing anyways? I know he got in the top ten in Kanto's Indigo League a month or two ago...but the last time I actually saw him was when he won the Johto League's Silver Conference."

"He was doing quite fine the last I saw of him. He recently dropped by, though it was just for a short time," Elm replied. As they said this, Marina quickly read the note to herself.

Dear Marina,

Hey, how have you been doing? I challenged the Indigo League a few months ago, as you should probably know by now. I was so close! Competition is fierce in Kanto! I was beaten by this kid named Red. Yes, it was that Red. He's really as powerful as they say. Did you see the battle on TV? It was the best battle I've ever lost!

So I got a chance to talk to Red, and he offered me to train with him. And you know darn well that I accepted! So here I am, writing this letter to you from the place that homes the strongest wild Pokémon in Johto and Kanto combined—Mt. Silver. The Pokémon here are so powerful, it's extreme! It's no wonder the place is shut off from normal Trainers and tourists...

Anyhow, I hope you're enjoying the Cyndaquil I gave you. Pretty neat colors, huh? And because I feel like spoiling you a little more, I'm giving you the two Pokémon that come with this letter, known as Murkrow and Misdreavus. They're all yours and it's completely up to you if you want to make them your partners. Murkrow makes a better courier than a fighter; use it if you ever need to send a letter to me. Misdreavus will help you out in tight spots, but definitely stronger than your team. So wait a while, gain her trust and make sure you have the right badges before putting her on the battle field.

I figure this might seem like cheating to give you these Pokémon, but I bet Kenta and Jackson brought their Pokémon from home too.

Alright, I'm tired of writing all this. But here you go, enjoy this letter and good luck on your journey!

Your older brother,

Chris

Marina looked at her two Poké Balls sitting in her palm, then at the Pokémon on her shoulder. Overwhelming happiness surged through her as her smile broadened, and she jumped and embraced the black bird, who squawked in surprise.

"Yay!" she cried out in a giggle, spinning in place. "That's so awesome; I didn't even know he'd do this!" Kenta, Jackson and Professor Elm laughed along with her, relieved to see her happy again. Of course, a letter from Chris would obviously brighten up her day. Letters were rare as with any form of contact with Marina's brother.

"It's really from him?" Kenta asked, walking toward her.

"Yeah, look!" Marina replied quickly and shoved the letter in his face.

"Thanks," he said with a chuckle. Marina, however, was distracted by the Poké Ball containing the Misdreavus. She threw it in the air, catching it after it opened and released the creature inside.

"Muu!" A small ghost Pokémon greeted her, little enough to fit in her Trainer's arms. The navy and pink tassels on her head wavered as she moved, and a row of ruby gems encircled her neck. Her yellow and crimson eyes were wide, completing her adorable figure.

Marina cheered in delight and hugged her as well, causing the two Pokémon to fidget around and glance at one another, baffled. In the background, Kenta had handed the letter to Jackson, who then rotated it to Professor Elm when he was done reading it.

Minutes later, everyone was sitting down once more and continuing their meal. Marina ate her food at a faster pace now and soon went to put it away, humming softly to herself. Her new Pokémon were both returned to their Poké Balls, which sat on the table along with Chris's letter.

"I must do some outside work today with some of the Pokémon here that need fresh air. Remember that you three will have to stay here. Nowhere else, okay?" Professor Elm explained somewhat sternly after breakfast was finished. When the three Trainers nodded without hesitation, he turned to Jackson. "Would you like to help me, Jackson?"

Jackson's face lit up. "Sure!" But as he took a step forward, he glanced at Kenta. "Hold on a sec." He grabbed Kenta's arm and dragged him away from both the Professor and Marina, who watched them in blank puzzlement before the professor sighed knowingly.

"What? What?" Kenta asked, pulling his arm out of his friend's grip.

"I want to ask you something," Jackson lowered his voice, "Do you still like her?"

It took a few seconds for this question's meaning to process in Kenta's mind. When he understood, he promptly smacked his own forehead with his palm. "How many times are you going to ask me—no! We're all just friends here, remember?"

"Hm..." Jackson studied his friend's reaction. "I guess I should've expected you to feel the same way after just a day or two. But anyways, don't try anything...you know..."

"Of course not!" Kenta hissed quietly. "What the heck gave you that idea?!" Uneasy and a little angry, he glared at Jackson, who returned it suspiciously with his own.

"I'm watching you, Kenta."

"There won't be anything to see," retorted Kenta stubbornly.

"Jackson, are you coming?" Professor Elm called. "I'm going now!"

"Oh, yeah, I'm coming! Wait up!" Jackson turned and bolted right back to the man, following him without another look at Kenta.

"What was that about, so suddenly?" Kenta asked to himself, resting a hand on his cap. He's obsessed, his mind flatly responded.

However, another voice answered from behind him. "I don't know. I couldn't hear him since I was too far away."

Recognizing it instantly as Marina's voice, he turned and froze. She was suddenly standing beside him, moving her curious stare from Jackson to him. Kenta quickly stepped a few paces away from her, his cheeks slightly turning pink.

The girl tilted her head to the side, raising an eyebrow. "What?"

"Y-You...never mind," Kenta stuttered. He scolded himself mentally for this habit; whenever Marina stood a little too close to him, he would always trip over his tongue. He could have sworn that his friend had picked up on it, much to his dismay, as she seemed to laugh whenever he did this.

"Sorry," Marina giggled predictably, "There's no one else around now, huh?"

"I guess," he said and refused to make eye contact with her.

After a moment of silence, Marina clapped her hands together. "Hey, want to go talk outside?"

At last, Kenta made himself face her, grinning a little. "Sure."

The two walked alongside a long crisscross wooden fence, which bordered the wilderness from the large field settled behind Professor Elm's laboratory. The early afternoon summer sun beat down on them gently as drafts of wind slipped by them as they strolled side by side. They sent out a few of their Pokémon, which took to the open field with playful or lazy excitement.

Not wanting to stray far from the lab, Marina sat on the fence and Kenta leaned against it beside her. The tension that stood between the two yesterday had almost melted away, that much Kenta could see; Marina was not truly mad at him, and he felt the same. Neither of them wanted to hold a grudge against each other. However, caution from both sides left the two silent for a while, and they watched their Pokémon without looking each other in the eye.

"You know," Marina spoke suddenly, "I had a weird dream last night."

"What about?" Kenta asked.

Marina made a half-smile, the wind playing with her cerulean locks. "Silver, I think..."

"Oh." Kenta frowned, and an odd quiet moment passed. Though Marina looked at him, he failed to notice as he stared off into the distance. "...What happened?"

"What?" Taken aback, Marina blinked.

"The dream," he answered.

"Oh. Well," she paused as she tried to remember the peculiar dream, "I was in a really old town… It was totally empty, and I was just exploring the place until I found this pretty fountain. Then suddenly, I saw Silver and an Entei appear right beside me."

Kenta looked at her, interested as his eyebrows rose. "An Entei? As in one of the Legendary Beasts of Johto?"

"Yeah, and both of them had gray eyes. And then there was this one lady sitting on the fountain."

"...Sitting on it?"

"Well, she was standing in the water," Marina elaborated with a laugh. "I told you it was weird! But she was pretty; it felt like she was watching over me or something..." Marina trailed off, and a few moments passed undisturbed.

"What happened after that?" Kenta asked.

"Hm… She said something to me, but I don't remember what. Then everything just went dark, and I was standing there for a little while before I woke up."

"That is an odd dream," Kenta agreed.

"Yeah," sighed Marina, "But Silver seemed a lot nicer—."

"I don't want to talk about him," her friend said sternly. He did not want to bring about another fight.

"But…" Not willing to make him any more upset, Marina kept her mouth shut. She clutched the fence, feeling the rough wood grain on her fingertips. As her gaze descended to the fresh blades of grass, she frowned.

"...I saw that you had five Pokémon," he suddenly said, changing the subject.

Relieved, she replied, "Yup, I caught a lot of them, but I was kind of waiting for Chris to give me a Pokémon. Not the Murkrow and Misdreavus, but King...sort of."

"You really do trust him, huh?"

"Of course! I'm proud of my strong big brother," announced Marina perkily, "And well, you feel the same, don't you?"

"Without him, I probably wouldn't have met you," Kenta replied.

"That's true. He was friends with everybody in New Bark Town. But..." He glanced at her, who continued to look at the ground below her feet. The girl slowly kicked her feet. "We haven't seen him in person since he left to become Pokémon Trainer, and now May's worried that I won't come back, either."

"She is?"

"Yeah, she wants me to send letters and call whenever I can."

"Good thing Chris gave you that Murkrow, huh?" Kenta grinned, though it faltered as he saw Marina's profound and distant expression. "What is it?"

"Well, hmm," she twisted her face a little as she tried to put her thoughts into words, "I've been wondering about it for a while and I think I can understand why Chris doesn't come home. He's a Pokémon Trainer, and they travel, right? Maybe he's so used to traveling that sometimes, he… forgets that he has a home."

As Silver's final words to her swam through her mind, Marina eyed her little pack of Pokémon solemnly. "And you know, I've never really given it much thought before, but Trainers have to go through a lot, don't they? I…kind of wonder what will happen to us out there."

Her friend gazed at her, thoughtful yet puzzled at where she was going.

"Hey, Kenta," she returned his stare, "Do you think that'll happen to us, too? Will we end up like Chris and forget about this place?"

For a few moments they stared at one another, Kenta frozen in subtle astonishment. His expression melted into determination, and he stood upright to face her.

"No. Marina, we'll never do that. It wouldn't be like you, or me or Jackson to just forget about New Bark Town," he told her. "And I'm sure Chris hasn't forgotten about us either. He's just busy, that's all. You saw, he's training with Red! Red, the youngest Kanto Champion! I'm sure he misses you and May and your mom and dad. He'll come back to stay for a while someday."

Marina watched him for a moment after he finished talking. With an encouraged smile and a nod, she looked away as she playfully swung her feet into the air. "That's true, Chris will come home," she agreed. "Though I might be someplace far off by then."

"Yeah..."

"Kenta, do you have your PokéGear with you?' Marina asked soon after, lifting the white and pink cell phone-like device that still hung around her neck.

"Yeah, I do," Kenta responded and held up his arm. Since he was now wearing his usual red jacket, the PokéGear was fitted to his sleeve like a wristwatch. "Why?"

"Can you teach me? How to use it, I mean." The girl jumped down onto the grass and faced him expectantly.

"Well..."

"Please?" Marina pleaded and held her PokéGear with both of her hands.

Making an awkward grin, he laughed. "All right, all right. I was going to ask if you needed help anyways."

"Yes! Thank you!" Giggling, a bubbly Marina smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck in a brief hug. Kenta stumbled, his face flushing a bashful crimson even as Marina let go and backed away happily. He hastily shook his head and turned away to maintain his composure.

"N-No problem," Ignoring the girl's subsequent giggling, he sat down and sighed to himself. His warm cheeks stubbornly remained even as he attempted to rid himself of it.

Marina knelt beside him, sitting on the tamed grass with her PokéGear in hand. "Well?" she said to him as she waited. She smiled as he turned back to her with a grin, a friendly glint in his navy eyes.

"Yeah, well... Let's see...you see this?" He held out his PokéGear and pointed to the large button on the side, allowing Marina to easily find it on her own PokéGear. "That turns it on and off, answers calls, you know; it's like the A button on video game controllers. You have to hold it for a bit before it really turns off."

"Oh, I see..." As Kenta turned it on to demonstrate, Marina watched his every move closely.

Throughout the hour, Kenta continued to teach Marina how to use a PokéGear, telling her all he knew. Marina listened intently and nodded often to let her know she was paying close attention.

Nearby, their Pokémon stopped what they were doing and watched them. Their Trainers laughed as they talked and gradually strayed off-topic. King murmured a haughty grunt, but threw a confused look at Kenta's Cyndaquil as it burst into a fit of laughter. King playfully tackled into the amused Cyndaquil and they took off, joining the group of Marina's Pokémon in a game of tag within the open meadow of Professor Elm's lab.